# Heritage Party (UK)

The Heritage Party is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist, and socially conservative minor political party in the United Kingdom, founded in October 2020 when then-London Assembly Member David Kurten left the UK Independence Party (UKIP) to form the party. Kurten was also a member of the Brexit Alliance, a Eurosceptic technical group he formed in 2018 with fellow former UKIP member Peter Whittle.

## History

In January 2020, Kurten announced he would be running as an independent candidate in the upcoming London mayoral and London Assembly elections (then scheduled for May 2020, but both elections were postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic). Kurten founded the Heritage Party, and it was registered with the Electoral Commission that October.
In December 2020, Kurten rejected a COVID-19 vaccine, for which he was denounced by Conservative mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey, who saw this as irresponsible for an elected politician. Lockdowns in response to the coronavirus pandemic in the United Kingdom were condemned by Kurten.

## Elections
### Parliamentary by-elections

The party has stood in eight by-elections so far:
| By-election | Candidate | Votes | Out of | Percentage | Place | Out of | Notes |
| 2021 Hartlepool by-election | Claire Martin | 468 | 29,933 | 1.6 | 4th | 16 | |
| 2021 Batley and Spen by-election | Susan Laird | 33 | 37,786 | 0.1 | 16th | 16 | |
| 2021 Old Bexley and Sidcup by-election | David Kurten | 116 | 21,733 | 0.5 | 9th | 11 | |
| 2021 North Shropshire by-election | James Elliot | 79 | 38,093 | 0.2 | 10th | 14 | |
| 2022 Southend West by-election | Ben Downton | 236 | 15,942 | 1.6 | 6th | 9 | Held due to the murder of previous MP David Amess on 15 October 2021. The major parties thus did not stand. |
| 2022 Tiverton and Honiton by-election | Jordan Donoghue-Morgan | 167 | 42,707 | 0.4 | 7th | 8 | |
| 2023 Selby and Ainsty by-election | Guy Phoenix | 162 | 35,886 | 0.5 | 10th | 13 | |
| 2023 Mid Bedfordshire by-election | Alberto Thomas | 63 | 40,720 | 0.5 | 11th | 13 | |

### 2021 elections
#### May 2021 London elections

Kurten came 15th in the 2021 London mayoral election with 0.4% of the vote. Heritage came 13th in the Assembly election with 0.5% of the vote. In addition to his Mayoral loss, Kurten lost his seat in the Assembly (to which he had been elected second on the UKIP list at the 2016 election).

#### London Assembly

| Election | Votes | Share of votes | Seats | Note(s) |
| 2021 | 13,534 | 0.52% | 0 / 25 | #13 |

### 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly

| Election | First Preference Vote | Share of votes | Seats | Note(s) |
| 2022 | 128 | 0.0% | 0 / 90 | #16 |

### 2023 UK local elections

| Council | Candidates | Elected | Votes | Percentage |
| Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole | 1 / 76 | 0 / 76 | 181 | 0.1 |
| Tonbridge and Malling | 1 / 44 | 0 / 44 | 77 | 0.1 |
| South Staffordshire | 1 / 42 | 0 / 42 | 86 | 0.4 |

### 2024 elections
#### UK local elections

| Council | Candidates | Elected | Votes | Percentage |
| West Oxfordshire | 1 / 17 | 0 / 17 | 99 | 0.1 |

#### London Assembly

| Election | Votes | Share of votes | Seats | Note(s) |
| 2024 | 4,431 | 0.18% | 0 / 25 | #14 |

#### General election

The party's candidates stood in 41 constituencies in the 2024 United Kingdom general election on 4 July 2024: 34 in England, 1 in Scotland, 6 in Wales. These candidates received a total of 6,597 votes, and none of them were elected.
| Election year | Leader | # of total votes | % of overall vote | Candidates | # of seats won | Outcome |
| 2024 | David Kurten | 6,597 | 0.0% | 41 / 650 | 0 / 650 | No seats |